The Mikado - A Fundraiser for Japan

A concert version of the Mikado by Gilbert and Sullivan will be presented as a fundraiser for Japan. All proceeds will be donated through the Presbyterian World Service and Development Fund. All donations will receive a tax receipt.

Gilbert and Sullivan's Mikado

A concert performance - admission by donation

Saturday April 30, 2011 7:30pm

First Presbyterian Church 10025 105 Street

Please come out for a great cause!

Concert Listings March 28-Apr 3

FREE Monday Noon Music UofA every Monday at noon in Convocation Hall. A different program each week, the Monday Noon Music series features everything from western classical to world music. This quick 45-minute concert leaves you just enough time to get back to class or the office before the noon hour’s even over. Don't forget your lunch!

Monday March 28, 2011 7:30pm Edmonton Philharmonic Orchestra, Riverbend Retirement Residence, 103 Rabbit Hill Court.

Friday April 1, 2011 7pm Edmonton Raga-Mala Music Society, Carnatic Violin – by Vittal Ramamurthy, Padma Shankar and Aarti Shankar. Muttart Hall, Alberta College.

Friday April 1, 2011 7:30pm Jasper Wood, violin. Horizon Stage

Friday April 1, 2011 8pm FREE Light and Darkness Choral Concert.Robertson-Wesley Choir and the UofA Graduate Recital Choir and chamber orchestra with Claire Rolheiser, soprano, Michael Kurschat, baritone, Kimberly Taylor, soprano, Tammy-Jo Mortensen, conductor. Music:Requiem, Eleanor Daley, and other music spanning four centuries.

Friday, April 1, 2011 8pm Edmonton Chamber Music Society – Rebel (Baroque ensemble) Jörg-Michael Schwarz, Violin, co-Director, Karen Marie Marmer, Violin, co-Director, John Moran, Violoncello, Dongsok Shin, Harpsichord and organ. Convocation Hall, UofA.

Friday and Saturday April 1 and 2, 2011 Alberta Ballet: Serenade and Vigil of Angels at Northern Jubilee Auditorium

Saturday April 2, 2011 8pm FREE UofA music - Evidence presents Losperus with Vector Rails (electroacoustic music). Convocation Hall. For more information, click here.

Sunday April 3, 2011 11am Edmonton Opera Brunch: Tosca. Alberta Ballroom, Crowne Plaza, Chateau Lacombe

Review - Duruflé Requiem with the ESO and Da Camera Singers

Da Camera Singers

The Edmonton Symphony Orchestra, the Da Camera Singers and soloists Anita Krause, mezzo soprano, and Bonaventura Bettone, tenor were centre stage at the Winspear Centre Friday night performing with the ESO's Masters series in a program of Resphigi, Britten and Duruflé. 


Anita Krause started the evening with a rarely performed setting of the Shelley poem called "The Sunset". Il Tramento came to life with dark, rich colours with exquisite long lines of the late Romantic period.  The orchestra matched Ms. Krause's colours beautifully and the performance felt very intimate with only the ESO strings. Conductor Bill Eddins said "I really enjoyed that - " to Ms. Krause at the end of the piece and I think the audience agreed.


Bonaventura Bettone was a commanding presence in Benjamin Britten's Les Illuminations who attacked the difficult repertoire with poise and power.  The vocal acrobatics required un vrai force majeure and Mr. Bettonne lived up to Britten's demanding composition.  ESO string soloists were also wonderful in this piece lending a balance to the French tongue-twisters of the vocal line.


The Da Camera Singers came to the stage to join the ESO in a poignant performance of Duruflé's Requiem.  All requiem's send me into another world (which is perhaps the point!) and this one was no exception.  It was frustrating at points where the choir was not heard completely over the orchestra yet there were some strong moments especially in the Kyrie movement.  


My favourite section of the Da Camera Singers in this performance was the altos whose rich voices rang true in exposed parts of the piece.  I was surprised that Dr. John Brough, conductor of the Da Camera Singers didn't come out for a bow at the end of the show - John, where were you?!  You should take credit for continuing the success of this talented group.    


This Masters program continues tonight, March 26, 2011 at the Winspear Centre.  Don't forget to check out the Symphony Prelude at 7:15 pm with Lucas Waldin (resident conductor) in the Upper Circle, Third Level Lobby.

Concert Listings March 21-27

FREE Monday Noon Music UofA every Monday at noon in Convocation Hall. A different program each week, the Monday Noon Music series features everything from western classical to world music. This quick 45-minute concert leaves you just enough time to get back to class or the office before the noon hour’s even over. Don't forget your lunch!

Monday March 21 to Sunday March 27, 2011 UofA music - Vocal Arts Week, Location TBA.

Monday March 21, 2011 8pm UofA music - Choral Concert, Winspear Centre.

Thursday March 24 to Saturday March 26, 2011 7:30pm and 2pm Shen Yun Performing Arts. Classical Chinese dance and music with orchestra. Northern Jubilee Auditorium. Contact Ticketmaster.

Thursday March 24, 2011 7pm UofA music - West African Music Ensemble, Convocation Hall.

Thursday, March 24, 2011, 8pm Edmonton Chamber Music Society - The Tallis Scholars (Renaissance choir). McDougall United Church. Tomás Luis de Victoria, Vidi speciosam Lamentations for Maundy Thursday, Francisco Guerrero, Regina caeli laetere, Sebastián de Vivanco, Magnificat octavi toni, Tomás Luis de Victoria, Requiem.

Friday March 25, 2011 12pm FREE Edmonton Symphony Orchestra's 60th anniversary season launch. Bill Eddins, conductor. Selection of musical highlights from the upcoming 2011/12 season. The ESO will be collecting non-perishable items for Edmonton's Food Bank at this event.

Friday March 25, 2011 7pm UofA music - Indian Music Ensemble, Convocation Hall.

Friday March 25, 2011, 7:30 pm and Saturday March 26, 2011 Edmonton Symphony Orchestra Enmax Hall, Winspear Centre. William Eddins, conductor , Sasha Cooke, mezzo-soprano, Bonaventura Bottone, tenor. Duruflé: Requiem, Britten: Les Illuminations, Boulanger: Psaume 130.

Friday March 25, 2011 7:30pm Bella Voce Women's Choir and Mannechor, Robert Tegler Student Centre, Concordia University College.

Saturday March 26, 2011 7pm UofA music - Middle East and North African Music Ensemble, Convocation Hall.

Saturday March 26, 2011 7:30pm Jorge Miguel, flamenco guitar, Eliana Cuevas, vocalist, Paul Donat, bass, Daniel Stone and Luis Orbegoso, percussion. Horizon Stage.

Sunday March 27, 2011 2pm UofA music - Vocal Arts Recital, Convocation Hall.

Sunday March 27, 2011 2pm Esquire Alberta Men's Chorus, 2011 - A Real Odyssey. Robert Sund, Guest Conductor. $25, general admission. Winspear Centre. 

Banff Centre - Edmonton Presentation March 22, 2011

The Banff Centre invites you to attend an informal presentation about our upcoming program and residency opportunities for artists.

The Banff Centre offers dozens of programs in performing, literary, Aboriginal, visual, and media arts for artists in all stages of their careers.

Come find out more about The Banff Centre’s unique professional development opportunities and learn about our inspiring programs.

When: Tuesday, March 22, 2011 4:30 pm - 5:30 pm

Where: Art Gallery of Alberta, Ledcor Theatre, 2 Sir Winston Churchill Square

Please RSVP to Ben at ben_archer@banffcentre.ca

Nominees announced for Edmonton’s Mayor’s Arts Awards

Nominees announced for Edmonton’s Mayor’s Arts Awards

2011/2012 ESO 60th Season Preview & FREE Concert

Click here for more information - The 2011-12 ESO Season

The Edmonton Symphony Orchestra is proud to present its 60th season! Join us at our official launch on Friday, March 25 at Noon for a free hour-long performance featuring selections from the upcoming year. Seating is general admission and first-come, first-served! Lobby doors open at 11 AM. The ESO will be collecting non-perishable items for Edmonton's Food Bank at this event.

Thank you to our AV Sponsor: Mediaco

Season Highlights

Friday Masters, Landmark Classic Masters
Highlights: "Jupiter" Symphony, Rachmaninoff's 3rd Piano Concerto, Enigma Variations, Tchaikovsky's 6th Symphony

Sunday Showcase
Highlights: A Symphonic Guide to New Music, Beethoven's "Pastorale" Symphony

Midweek Classics

Highlights: Beethoven's 7th Symphony, Bach's Violin Concerto

Lighter Classics
Highlights: Bonfiglio plays Gershwin, Gold Medal Skates

Pops
Highlights: Wicked Divas, Tommy Banks, A Tribute to Ray Charles

Symphony for Kids
Highlights: Music of Harry Potter, Bach to the Future

Symphony Under the Sky
Highlights: Ian Tyson, Rhapsody in Blue

Late Night with Bill Eddins
Highlights: Kemal Gekić, Ashu, Angela Cheng

ESO Presents
Highlights: Benjamin Grosvenor, Elliot Madore

Symphony Specials
Highlights: Michael W Smith, Disney in Concert

Edmonton Arts Council Speaker Series Starts March 14 - FREE

NEW Speaker Series :: Percolate. Brewing ideas with...Leading minds in the fields of Arts, Heritage and Cultural Management

Join us for the 2011 speaker series, Percolate. Brewing ideas with…., as we explore issues of sustainability in the fields of Arts, Heritage and Cultural Management. 

Series launch: Monday, March 14, 2011

Percolate. Brewing ideas with… Ben Cameron

I believe that the arts are at a moment of fundamental redefinition. With the explosion in technologies and the rise of arts participants (people who write their own poetry, perform their own music, etc) even in the face of declining traditional arts attendance, the arts community must engage in a deep examination of its core purpose. Old notions of sustainable business structures and physical plants are especially ripe for examination in this time and may indeed be antithetical to the demands of the larger world around us. How arts organizations think about their work, not solely as providing products to be consumed but in providing experiences that will serve as springboards to our audience's own creativity, will likely determine their viability in the future. – Ben Cameron, Program Director, Arts, Doris Duke Charitable Foundation, New York.

Where:    Matrix Hotel – Quartz Ballroom

              10640-100 Avenue, Edmonton, AB 

Time:      6:30 PM – Doors
              7:00 PM – Presentation

Tickets to the speaker series are free, but registration is required. Click here to register.

Save the date for these upcoming speakers!

April 14, 2011:    Jeff Melanson, Canada's National Ballet School
May 19, 2011:     Nancy Noble, Museum of Vancouver

Presenting partners: Alberta Museums Association, Edmonton Arts Council, Edmonton Heritage Council, Grant MacEwan University

Concert Listings March 14-20

FREE Monday Noon Music UofA every Monday at noon in Convocation Hall. A different program each week, the Monday Noon Music series features everything from western classical to world music. This quick 45-minute concert leaves you just enough time to get back to class or the office before the noon hour’s even over. Don't forget your lunch!

Monday March 14, 2011 12pm UofA Music, Noon Hour Organ Concert, Convocation Hall, University of Alberta.

Monday March 14, 2011 4pm FREE LECTURE: Performing Arts and the Worlds of Islam: Synergy and Disconnect in the Indian Ocean Trade Winds. Anne K. Rasmussen, Assoc. Professor of Music and Ethnomusicology, The College of William and Mary (Virginia). UofA Fine Arts Bldg, Room 2-20. Department of Music Speakers Series.

Tuesday March 15, 2011 4pm FREE Film Screening: ZURKHANEH – The House of Strength: Music and Martial Arts of Iran, a documentary film by Federico Spinetti, 2010. UofA Arts and Convocation Hall Rm 141, 105 minutes. 

Wednesday March 16, 2011 8pm Edmonton Classical Guitar Society,The Los Angeles Guitar Quartet, William Kanengiser, Scott Tennant, Matthew Greif, John Dearman. Winspear Centre.

Friday March 18, 2011 8pm UofA music - Honour Band, Convocation Hall.

Friday March 18, 2011 8pm King's Annual Chamber Choir concert with guests Kappella Kyrie (a new Slavic Chamber Choir) First Presbyterian Church (10025-105 Street) Tickets: The King's Bookstore. 

Saturday March 19, 2011 7:30pm Cosmopolitan Music Society Old Strathcona Performing Arts Centre 8426 Gateway Boulevard CMS Series - Tuesday Band In advance, tickets are $10 for adults and $7 for students and seniors . At the door, tickets are $12 for adults and $9 for students and seniors.

Sunday March 20, 2011 2:30pm Cosmopolitan Music Society Old Strathcona Performing Arts Centre 8426 Gateway Boulevard CMS Series - Wednesday Band. In advance, tickets are $10 for adults and $7 for students and seniors. At the door, tickets are $12 for adults and $9 for students and seniors. 

Sunday March 20, 2011 3pm Edmonton Recital Society, Alissa Cheung, violin, Sarah Ho, piano. Holy Trinity Anglican Church, admission by donation.

Sunday March 20, 2011 7pm UofA music - Contempo New Music Ensemble, Convocation Hall.

Sunday March 20, 2011 Opera Nuovo Dinner Cabaret Series, "Laugh" at Normands. Il Duo - Ron Long, tenor, Clint Hagel, tenor.

Concert Listings March 7-13

FREE Monday Noon Music UofA every Monday at noon in Convocation Hall. A different program each week, the Monday Noon Music series features everything from western classical to world music. This quick 45-minute concert leaves you just enough time to get back to class or the office before the noon hour’s even over. Don't forget your lunch!

Wednesday March 9, 2011 Edmonton Catholic Schools, Band Day. The Citadel Theatre.

Thursday March 10, 2011 7pm Raga-Mala Music Society, Master of the Sarod. Amjad Ali Khan, with Ayaan Ali Khan & Amaan Ali Khan. Opener for the Year of India in Canada 2011 supported by the High Commission of India.

Friday March 11, 2011 Time? Penderecki String Quartet Masterclass (in conjunction with Tonus Vivus Society for New Music and the University of Alberta) Knoppers Hall, King's University College.

Friday March 11, 2011 8pm UofA music - MACH 8, Jacques Despres, piano. Music, Debussy, Préludes (1er Vol). Convocation Hall. $20 adults, $15 seniors, $10 students.

Friday March 11 to Saturday March 19, 2011 MacEwan presents Company. George Furth, Stephen Sondheim. John L. Haar Theatre. Contact Tix on the Square for showtimes.

Saturday March 12 – Tuesday March 15, 2011 ChoralFest North, McDougall United Church.

Saturday March 12, 2011 7:30pm St. Albert Chamber Music - WindRose Trio, Beth Levia, oboe, Jeff Campbell, clarinet, and Matthew Howatt, bassoon, with emerging artist, Megan Propp. Recital Room, Don's Piano Warehouse, 8 Riel Drive, St. Albert.

Saturday March 12, 2011 7pm Stories to Tell. Festival City Winds Advanced Band, Wendy J. Grasdahl, conductor, Concordia Concert Choir, Dr. Joy Berg, conductor. Robert Tegler Centre, Concordia University College, 73 St and 112 Av.

Saturday, March 12 2011, 8pm Tonus Vivus - Strong Strings - Penderecki String Quartet: Jeremy Bell and Jerzy Kaplanek, violins, Christine Vlajk, viola, Jacob Braun, violoncello. Canadian works written since 2000 including music by Darlene Chepil-Reid, Linda C. Smith, Ian Crutchley, Helve Sastok and Piotr Grella-Mozejko's Acheron with Chenoa Anderson, flute and electronics and video. Ledcor Theatre, Art Gallery of Alberta.

New Video: Lamento

An excerpt from "Tintern Abbey" by Kevin Skelton -- a theatrical piece combining dance and singing to a contemporary/electronic arrangement of a baroque composition.  

The audio is in stereo and the movement interacts with sounds from left and right, so if you have the possibility to listen with headphones or speakers it may enhance the experience!  

Check out the new video here:

Music: Lamento della ninfa, Claudio Monteverdi (1567-1643)

EPSB Students Chart Path to Big Musical Night

Students chart path to big musical night

Edmonton Public Schools prepare for 47th annual talent showcase

By Mariam Ibrahim, Edmonton Journal March 1, 2011

The small gym at Westminster School was transformed Monday afternoon as dozens of students and their instruments filled the space for a last-minute band rehearsal.

Their conductor stood at one wall, and in front of her were seats filled with students holding instruments ranging from woodwinds to horns, with the percussion section nestled at the back.

"Don't shy away from anything back there, percussion," the conductor said before guiding the band back into song. She guided the woodwinds first, with the brass section quickly filling the space with its deep tones. Soon, the tempo picked up and the entire band was performing, the rhythm reverberating through the gym floor.

They finished and their conductor offered some tips. "Now you guys are getting how it all fits together," she said before they played it once more.

The students are part of the Edmonton Public Schools junior high honour band, made of up of Grade 9 students from across the district.

Monday's rehearsal was in preparation for Edmonton Public School's 47th annual Night of Music, happening on Wednesday evening at the Jubilee Auditorium. The concert is free and will feature a variety of performances and musical styles put together by 18 conductors, 56 music teachers and more than 800 students from Grades 1 to 12.

This year's theme is Music: The Rhythm of Life, and the musical choices for Wednesday's concert reflect that, said Tim Paetkau, music consultant for Edmonton Public Schools.

"It's a wide variety of music. You're going to hear a real mixture," Paetkau said, adding that 14 performances through the evening will give the audience a taste of everything from blues and rock to a ceremonial song from Africa.

The Jasper Place School Rebel Thunder Drumline, which was in the Grey Cup Parade last November, will make its first appearance at the concert. "The drum line is one particular thing that most people haven't seen," Paetkau said. "It's becoming more and more popular in Canada."

Kevin Wang and Jared Barron are both part of the junior high honour band. It will be the first time either has performed in the annual concert, and their impending debut has given them a case of the jitters.

"It's like nervousness, but also, there's so many people, you don't have to get it absolutely perfect because a lot of people are covering you up," said Kevin, who plays the band's only euphonium, an instrument he likens to a small tuba.

Both students have been practising during their free time since they received their sheet music at the beginning of January. They've each been to the Jubilee to watch a show before, but this is the first time they'll perform on stage there.

"I'm excited at the prospect of getting into such a big auditorium," said Jared, who plays trombone.  Paetkau said he hopes the annual concert will show school trustees, teachers, principals, parents and students how much can be achieved with an investment in music.

"When we give it the effort, when we put good teachers in there, when we put money into the programs, good things can happen and it can make a big impact on students' lives," he said.  "Music helps keep students invested in their education, he said. "I think it's a great way to keep kids in schools. It's a great motivator."

Both Kevin and Jared said they've already seen the benefits of studying and playing music. "I feel like I'm definitely going to take band in high school. I think it's important," Jared said. "I've heard about how it can improve your average and make you think in a more critical way."

Being in a band is like being part of a "tight-knit" community, he said. "It's like a family."  For Kevin, music can speak to all people, no matter who they are or where they come from.  "Music is sort of the universal language because anyone can understand it," he said. "What we play is really great. Anyone can come and enjoy it; you don't have to have any sort of music background."

Night of Music happens Wednesday from 7 p.m. to 9: 10 p.m. at the Jubilee Auditorium.  Edmonton Catholic Schools is hosting Band Day on March 9 at The Citadel Theatre, where 1,500 students are set to perform.

mibrahim@edmontonjournal.com twitter.com/mariam_di

© Copyright (c) The Edmonton Journal